THE STORY OF THE SALMON 303 



We must bear in mind, however, the broad fact that the 

 salmon is what one might call a " bimodal " organism. As 

 an adult it has its consistently ascetic, freshwater period, 

 with the single orgasm of reproduction, and its consist- 

 ently Epicurean, marine period of nutrition. Punctuated 

 by the seasons, though, for the reasons stated, with import- 

 ant exceptions, there is an almost diagrammatic contrast 

 between the nutritive and the reproductive phases. 



